As a complement to its compliance responsibilities, the commission presently
is conducting an affirmative action employment project, with funds in the
amount of $16,150 from the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
(E.E.O.C.). The one-year project (which began on September 1, 1968) is designed
to eliminate job discrimination through a concentrated statewide effort
to examine the total employment practices of major companies which employ
few or no persons belonging to minority groups. A total of twenty-six "priority"
companies and twenty-four "alternate" companies have been selected
for review.

With the aid of technical data from the E.E.O.C., the commission has selected
for examination those establishments whose patterns of utilization of minority
people indicated that they may be engaging in unfair employment practices.
These establishments were selected on the basis of the following criteria:
size; minority under-utilization; growth potential; turn-over rate; outside
pressures (such as government contract compliance programs, concern with
public image, and production of consumer goods); availability of transportation
to the establishment; location near minority population; and wage level.

Further backup information is being obtained about these establishments
to determine whether a complaint should be filed under the Iowa Civil Rights
Act. The complaint would effectively initiate a detailed systematic investigation
to determine whether the under- utilization of minority people by these
establishments is the result of illegal discrimination which may be of two
types: intentional, by a conscious effort to employ only whites; or unintentional,
by use of obsolete methods of recruitment that operate to produce a racially-
imbalanced workforce. It is the goal of the project to see that all people
have equal employment opportunities by eliminating discrimination of both
types. A total of seven complaints had been filed by the commission by November
30, 1968.

The project is remedial in nature, being designed to attempt both to correct
the consequences of many years of discrimination and to put an end to employment
practices producing such results. It is anticipated that the business community
may not wholly accept the idea of change in this area; partially because
it does not realize the great dollars-and-cents potential lying dormant
in the state's minority manpower, and because change itself is oftentimes
uncomfortable and unsettling.

It is estimated, however, that there will be a marked increase in the number
of non-whites added to the workforce in the next few years. In view of the
fact that the unemployment differential is almost uniformly two to three
times as high for non-whites as for whites, the need for eliminating discrimination
intensifies. Apart from sociological or legal considerations, it makes good
economic sense to open up jobs for our expanding minority population rather
than adding to the number of those receiving welfare or unemployment compensation.
Since manpower needs are expected to increase by as much as one fourth between
1964 and 1975, an unparalleled opportunity is created for employers to tap
the work resource of minority people and thus to keep pace with changing
societal conditions directly affecting business.

The aim of the project is not only to see that establishments comply with
the Iowa Civil Rights Act for this year, but to set up a feedback system
between the establishments and the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. This will
ensure continued compliance with Iowa law and provide review of the effectiveness
of any procedures set up as part of an affirmative action program by the
establishment through agreement with the commission. It is the long-range
implementation of fair employment practices through positive measures that
will make the project of truly lasting benefit to minorities and to society
as a whole.